Fray Peniche Honored with the 2025 George Kissell Award

The Cardinal Chronicle
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

Fray Peniche Honored with 2025 George Kissell Award

The St. Louis Cardinals organization announced last night that Dominican Summer League Cardinals (R) manager Fray Peniche has been named the 2025 recipient of the George Kissell Award — one of the highest honors in the club’s player development system.

Since 2008, the award has been selected by a vote of Cardinals minor league staff and is presented annually to a staff member who exemplifies excellence in player development — not merely in wins and losses, but in teaching, mentorship, and organizational impact.

Peniche, 52, enters his 16th season as a coach in the Cardinals organization — his 28th overall in professional baseball — and has spent every one of his Cardinals seasons as manager of the DSL Cardinals at the club’s academy in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic. Hired in 2011, the Dominican native has compiled a 449-462 record in the Dominican Summer League, but his influence reaches far beyond the standings.

At the Cardinals’ Dominican Academy, Peniche serves as far more than a field manager. He is often the first professional voice young Latin American prospects hear after signing. For many 16- and 17-year-olds adjusting to professional expectations, cultural shifts, and the grind of daily baseball instruction, Peniche has been a steady hand guiding their development both on and off the field.

The award bears the name of George Kissell, long regarded as one of the foundational teachers in Cardinals history — a man whose emphasis on fundamentals, discipline, and doing things “The Cardinal Way” shaped generations of players and coaches. That Peniche is recognized by his peers for carrying forward those same values speaks volumes about his impact.

The Dominican Summer League rarely draws headlines. There are no large crowds, no televised games, and no box scores that dominate social media feeds. But in Boca Chica, the foundation of the future is laid. It is where raw talent is shaped into professional habits. It is where character is tested. It is where the first steps toward Busch Stadium quietly begin.

Peniche’s tenure spans waves of prospects — some who have climbed the organizational ladder, others who have not — but all who passed through his clubhouse experienced the standard and structure the Cardinals pride themselves on.

In an era when player development is increasingly data-driven and performance-focused, the George Kissell Award remains a reminder that teaching still matters. Development still matters. People still matter.

Fray Peniche has spent nearly three decades proving exactly that.